Delhi: Highest jump in COVID-19 cases; death toll rises to 65

The number of novel coronavirus infections in Delhi mounted to 5,532 on Wednesday after 428 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the biggest single-day spike so far, the government said. The death toll due to the COVID-19 pandemic rose to 65 with a fatality after a gap of three days, according to the Delhi government.

As many as 1,542 patients have recovered so far, while there are 3,925 active cases, the Health Department said, adding that 84 patients were in the ICU and 12 on ventilators. In the last 24 hours, 428 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Delhi, taking the tally to 5,532, it said. This is by far the largest single-day spike in coronavirus infections in Delhi.

The previous highest jump was 427 on May 3. The number of containment zones in Delhi have reduced to 88, the department said. A total of 71,934 COVID-19 tests have been conducted till date. The number of COVID-19 patients under home isolation stands at 695, it said. Health Minister Satyendar Jain told reporters that the coronavirus cases were now doubling in 11 days, which was earlier 13 days. "It is so because lot of pending reports were there whose results have now come out," he said.

Jain also visited the newly-constructed hospital at Burari with the health secretary and other officers of the department, with an aim to initially start this hospital as a 450-bed COVID-19 care centre, the bulletin said. Out of the total 5,532 cases recorded so far, at least 1,299 are admitted at various hospitals like the LNJP Hospital, RML Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) and AIIMS Jhajjhar, it said.

An order has been issued on the standard operating procedure for shifting asymptomatic or mild symptomatic COVID-19 patients from hospitals to care centres, and shifting of moderately or severely-affected patients from the care centres to hospitals, the bulletin said.

According to the statement, an order has been issued on guidelines for effective tracking and monitoring of people, who are suspected to be infected with COVID-19 and getting themselves tested at various accredited labs across Delhi. An order has also been issued regarding mobilisation of district teams to ensure timely action and proper follow up of cases under home isolation, it added.